USA - National Poll: 52 % would choose life in prison rather than death.

Support for death penalty still high, but down. A clear majority of Americans still support the death penalty for convicted murderers in the wake of Oklahoma's botched execution attempt in April, but the percentage who say they back capital punishment has fallen in recent years. 60 % of Americans say they favor the death penalty, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows, while 37 % are opposed. That number is down from roughly 2/3 who supported it in polls from 2002-2006, and well below the 80 % high-water mark for capital punishment in a 1994 survey. But for the 1st time in Post-ABC polling, more than half of Americans say they prefer life sentences for convicted murderers, rather than the death penalty. 52 % of those polled said they would choose life in prison, while 42 % said they favored execution. Those attitudes have changed thanks to shifting opinions among non-whites, who favor life sentences over the death penalty by more than a 2-to-1 margin, 65 % to 28 %. 8 years ago, non-whites favored life terms by 55 % to 41 %. White voters split 50 % to 45 % toward preferring the death penalty, though the margin is not statistically significant. Democrats and independents have shifted toward life sentences in significant numbers since the 2006 survey, by 9 % points and 8 % points respectively. Just 36 % of Republicans prefer life sentences, little changed from the last survey. Nearly 1/2 of Americans living in the 32 states that allow the death penalty, or 49 %, say they would prefer life imprisonment for convicted murders. Support for life in prison rises to 58 % respondents in states that have abolished the death penalty. The Post-ABC poll surveyed 1,002 adults between May 29 and June 1, both over landlines and on cellular phones. The overall survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 % points.